- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 20 December 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer when the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will provide a substantive answer to question S1W-30623 lodged on 15 October 2002.
Answer
The answer is given today
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 20 December 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has obtained a list of the creditors in connection with the liquidation of Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd and whether he will place a copy of any such list in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
No, the SPCB has not obtained such a list.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive under what criteria offences under sections (a) 1 and (b) 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1991 are heard in (i) the High Court of Justiciary or (ii) a sheriff court.
Answer
Decisions on forum for proceedings in such offences are a matter for Crown Counsel to make after consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case. We will review our court marking policies in the context of Lord Bonomy's Review of the High Court and our own review of High Court prosecutions.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is permissible for chief executives of local enterprise companies and politicians to co-sign letters to newspapers.
Answer
All staff employed by the Enterprise Networks are required to adhere to a code of conduct which covers matters of political activity and conflicts of interest. These codes do not prohibit public statements being made, including statements which may appear in the press, unless these are of a directly political nature. Chief Executives and senior members of staff are therefore expected to consider the implications of any actions they take and exercise judgement as to the appropriateness of those actions. The Executive is currently reviewing its guidance to non-departmental public bodies on such matters to ensure that guidance is as clear as it can be.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the work carried out by teachers under the Scottish Teacher Release Scheme enabling them to participate in the organisation of national and international competitions and to accompany national teams in training or competition; whether such work has been of value, and whether it will make provision for the continuation of the scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Teacher Release Scheme has provided a valuable means by which National Governing Bodies and School Sports Associations can secure the services of key members of staff to help in the organisation of national and international competitions.The scheme is currently under review as are all sportscotland funded programmes. A decision on whether the scheme will continue will be made early in the New Year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when it now estimates that the second tranche of ex-gratia payments will be made to Scottish Transport Group pensioners and whether it will abide by the indication given in the letter of 1 November 2002 by the Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning to the Convener of the Petitions Committee that "a second tranche" will be paid "early in the next financial year", perhaps April or May 2003"
Answer
The position remains as described in my letter of 1 November 2002 to the Convener of the Petitions Committee.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the secondment to it of persons with specialist expertise and, if so, whether it will provide a list of any such secondees.
Answer
The Scottish Executive supports the secondments to it of persons with specialist expertise as they allow the Scottish Executive to benefit from skills and knowledge which cannot be provided by existing staff and for which recruitment to permanent posts is not appropriate. In addition it enables the Scottish Executive to offer to other organisations the broadening of personal development and skills enhancement it seeks for its own staff. Additionally, inward secondments foster and promote links, co-operation and a mutual understanding between the Scottish Executive and particular sectors or organisations.The Scottish Executive does not disclose the names of individuals on secondment. The locations of the 79 current inward secondees are as follows.
| Education Department | 21 |
| Health Department | 18 |
| Environment and Rural Affairs Department | 13 |
| Communities Scotland | 6 |
| Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department | 6 |
| Finance and Central Services Department | 5 |
| Justice Department | 5 |
| Development Department | 4 |
| Corporate Services | 1 |
| Total | 79 |
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish Transport Group pension scheme members the statement made by the Deputy Minister for Education, Transport and Lifelong Learning in his letter of 12 June 2002 that "where there is no surviving widow or widower or child as described above, the individual's share of the surplus will return to the overall surplus for the benefit of the remaining pensioners" applies to; how much will be so returned to the overall surplus, and how, to whom and when any such surplus will be distributed.
Answer
The Scottish Executive will not be in a position to provide the data requested until the consequences of the exercise utilising the Department of Works and Pensions' (DWP) tracing service become clear in the first quarter of 2003. This exercise will identify those who have died without qualifying survivors. A calculation will then be made to determine the shares of the remaining beneficiaries and the second tranche payment will be calculated from this total share. We will retain the shares of those who have not been identified as deceased by the DWP and who have not yet contacted the Scottish Public Pensions Agency.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether public private partnership projects for the building of new (a) schools and (b) hospitals will incorporate the same standards of bomb proofing as have been incorporated in the specification of works for the new Parliament building at Holyrood.
Answer
In designing a building, security considerations are the same regardless of whether it will be built using public private partnerships or conventional procurement. These decisions are of course made by the bodies procuring the building, taking appropriate professional advice. It is for these accountable bodies to carry out the relevant risk assessment to establish the required level of security.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 17 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will relax planning rules and other regulations that govern the development of housing in locations that are sited off trunk roads.
Answer
Where a proposed development involves taking access from a trunk road, planning authorities are required to consult the Scottish ministers, as the trunk roads authority, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992. This ensures that road safety issues are fully considered.Should a planning authority resolve to grant planning permission contrary to advice from the trunk roads authority, or without attaching conditions which the trunk roads authority has recommended, it will be required first to notify the Scottish ministers of its decision. It is then for the Scottish ministers to decide whether the application should be called in for their determination or cleared back to the planning authority. We have no current plans to relax this procedure.
